Post by ericalbronda on Sept 4, 2007 5:22:31 GMT -5
From Terry, a writer and Great Fan of Blue Cheer
Dear Eric,
Thanks, it was just great to hear from you.
I can well imagine you have much to be concerned about
right now - is there anything I can do to help? I
didn't know you lived so close to the site. Didn't put
that together. Sounds difficult to raise money when
you have to cancel the fairs as well.
Actually, I guess I never asked - what do you sell at
the fairs? Can you sell things online to make it up?
Where/when will you receive the knees? It's
unbelievable what they can do nowadays - will things
improve for you then?
Hilariously, I also said the overabundance of "oh, so
what" bands and people would be way over the top at
this event - I cared abt. several but in NO WAY the
whole shebang. I was told abt. the gig, so contacted
Leigh & he replied w/his schedule & a "hope to see
you" note, so figured I'd go since I missed them
playing last time... (fourth abortive attempt at
seeing him live since their inception when I was a
mere 13, lol).
Then figured I'd get there late so as not to roast
alive, but when I called Dickie Sat. nite he said "NO
WAY - be at the back gate at 11:00 SHARP" in a tone
that defied gravity! Therefore we drove up & stayed at
the Stanyan Park Hotel (LAST room available ANYWHERE)
figured I didn't want to be late making Dick stand
there w/a zillion people; I'd also hate to see him mad
either...!
Called him at 11:00 Sun am. & said we could hardly get
into this "forest", and he yelled incoherently to my
son Robin (by cell phone) "Get down here NOW - it's a
COMPLETE & TOTAL MADHOUSE!"
We were dropped off near the park; & after sliding
down a couple hills (ha) and were by some miracle
treated to the sight of Peterson being wildly driven
around on one of those popemobiles for rock concerts
(minus the top of course) with hair
flying...apparanatly looking for us up & down the
pathways - Robin astonished ran up to him on a distant
path - DP put 2 passes in his hand, & the Kawasaki
"Mule" (my cousin says this is what it's called?!?)
sped off into the teeming multitudes w/Peterson in tow
to return him the seeming miles to the rear of the
event.
But first, Dickiee gasped off intp the distance to
Robin - "Gotta Go - I'm SICK!"
Robin worried & fretted thru the next several hours,
tho' I said that certainly Dickie was basically ok -
after all he was when he'd called Sat. night at my
work apologizing profusely for "taking several hours
longer to get back to me" than he'd promised - he was
apparantly at what I called "ground zero" checking out
the site & getting all in perfect readiness for his
appearance the next day.
Well, no sign of Dickie at the gig for quite a few
hours; my 15 yr. old son was extremely upset backstage
- thinking Dickie was on his deathbed somewhere
around...(sev'l. thousand back there too.) in this
pretty trippy place~*
We saw Country Joe thru the bars of the side rail from
the teensy area we could see thru - if you tried to go
through from backstage to the front you were
unceremoniously kicked to the curb & told to go all
the way around (with feet falling off already) -
seemed WAY too difficult. So contented myself with
hearing what was really not that much to worry abt.
missing - Charlatans, etc... but the Fish Cheer was
beautifully done - Joe was very very happy w/the
response to the material.
Each "act" all had 20 min. each to play - ridiculous
really - Moby Grape finally all show up alive (with
Omar Spence sitting in for dear old Dad) and they play
sev'l. songs only - they were trying to really make it
count as they received plenty of att'n. for their
efforts. They gave it a real college try - "Hey
Grandma" was enthusiastically received - people knew
the words around the stage, etc., just cound't really
see from backstage that well. It was too blazing hot
to get worked up about it.
I sat in the shade of an accomodating mammoth truck a
while & had a glass of their homemade wine so I could
scarf down some croutons to avoid a 5 mile food line.
Then I kept busy waiting to see if I could find Leigh
- & couldn't - but then he was onstage suddenly
w/Melissa Olsen from Chronic W/K & others - they did a
totally superior job of their "Only Make Believe" -
Leigh was visible thru the itty bitty portion of the
side-stage area - all I can say was he looked so
estatic - he played unbelievably well - he really had
the petal to the metal (that is funnier than I
think!!) and I was delighted to see him bubbling over
with enthusiasm. Someone who SOUNDED like Peterson
sang "The Hunter" & Leigh really churned out the
psychedelia. He really delivered - it couldn't have
been more exciting. Tho' I couldn't see the rest of
the musicians from my vantage point backstage Mr.
Stephens looked & sounded amazing & looked completely
joyous onstage. The whole thing was very healthy for
him, in my opinion. I can only ascertain that maybe it
made him happier to play with the musicians he was
with for the moment - I wisely would never ask them
any such questions...
Insead, when he got offstage I tripped him (not
really!) in order to
to wax enthusiastic abt. his performance. He was very
very very happy to hear it - unlike last time when he
seemed to want to split faster than a charging rhino
from the event (at least he didn't seem to be there
long for whatever reason from what I saw & talked for
abaout 3/4 of a second) - this time he seemed patient
& stayed for several hours & appeared to have fun with
the whole event. I know he can be reclusive so I was
thunderstruck at this. People, photogs. etc. were sort
of standing there & staring at him like mules when he
came offstage - they didn't really know what to think,
in my opinion, as to who comprised BC, etc., so I
figured I'd get him to talk if they were going to
waste the opportunity!
Leigh was very friendly - I told him I adored the demo
Eva Caperon sent me a couple years ago - he was really
pleased that someone knew what he was actually doing
now instead of more prehistoric questions- I avoided
any mention of BC and told him Ride the Thunder & the
Caperon demo were completely terrific, he was laughing
a lot, seemed to be having a blast. None of which I'd
exactly expected. He had a charming personality too -
some of which mood I imagine was helped my NOT asking
"uh - are you playing with DICKIE?" I spared him that
& kept the conversation to what was he doing
currently, ie.,was he doing more shows, etc. He
laughed saying "No!" I said - "OH YES you are - you
need to keep working at this - it's too good to waste
the opporunity w/ the Rolling Stone acolades, etc.
etc. He told me at that point triumphantly of his
upcoming release w/Melissa Olsen singing, and looked
quite pleased w/his plans.
He was easygoing, laughing and seemed extremely
relaxed. I think the whole event did him a world of
good from what I could tell.
After this, back at the stage tents w/Robin & I
encountered Mr. Peterson who emerged finally from
nowhere, looking pale as a ghost, telling us he felt
horrid that he hadn't spent any time w/us but that
he'd been remanded to the medical tent as he'd been
throwing up all day, as a matter of fact.
I told him "WHAT are you going to do? How are you
going to work this?" He replied (with the Peterson
look of total determination) "I HAVE to make it work.
I HAVE to."
He was fighting to keep from getting sick, and was
further perturbed that the others he'd planned on
playing with weren't around, and he had suddenly no
way to get his time scheduled...prob. due to his
untimely absence - or lack of efficiency on the part
of the staff; he was ticked but kept himself well
under control.
PART II coming - I don't want this to cut off!!!
Eric, Sorry this is long...
So - Vicariously speaking: Can you imagine the scene -
Here we had Peterson gingerly walking around trying
not to lose his lunch again, while fighting to get in
his time onstage simultaneously.
Ultimately, he got to play nearly last - which was
good; after the whole (what must have been miserably
uncomfortable for him) day - standing there feeling
sick & cold, he climbed up onstage & awaited his big
moment as the prior band finished.
Heaven knows who he played w/ I can't recall - it
didn't matter - Dickie sounded Aabsolutely incredible
- he belted out "Hootchie Kootchie Man" (never a song
I liked but suddenly I did with the way he howled it
out sounding exactly like he did at 18 years
old...maybe more so)
I was astonished at how he took charge of matters &
made the whole performance so imposing. He looked &
sounded fantastic - I could not again see the rest of
the band but had a view of Peterson at times - he
emitted a thrashing gutteral growl of a vocal that was
positively chilling - I thought he stole the show in
my opinion.
I really admired Dickie's grittiness and
determination. His one song was far more interesting
that the psychoderelict meanderings of the other
"goings on" ~~so "crewel", but so true! Grape, Cheeer
people, Taj Mahal, Starship (apparantly Balin showed
up) and a few others could have done decent sets at,
say Maritime for a few decent hours & it would have
been GREAT. But I suppose they were looking for the
"ambiance" & celebratory feel.
I am so sorry Leigh & Dickie ticked ya off - I totally
understand your point about their opportunity to play
together at such an event. They were definitely
speaking to each other - I heard DP ask Leigh if he
was "staying around" but have no idea what they were
talking about. They spoke to each other at any rate ~
tht was the main thing.
So I don't know = it will be interesting to see what
the powers that be thought of it - having seen
LeighLess Cheer at the Bodega, Catalyst, Oakland last
year, the Attic, maybe a couple other times I felt
Dickie was Spot ON - you never would have known
anything ailed the man ~ he wanted to get back to the
airport area hotel at once & crash as he'd definitely
extended himself! Well, instead of feeling sorry for
himself he certainly proved who was legendary &
deserved the honors for his position in the festival
as I saw it.
I have to fix my printer so I can print the many items
Dickie reminisced abt. prior to last year ~I'd really
love to put it in one place & see what there is.
Also would like to get Leigh's perspectives abt.
whatever he enjoys talking about if not the past
stuff.
Mostly, I am concerned now for your upcoming event -
I'll let you rest now, and thanks for reading all the
fine print.
And, I am boonswoggled at seeing the artwork - It is
in the best hands it could be in. I used to love to
appal my mother by taping that cover to my wall. It
was so over the top for its time, and it's amazingly
well executed. And, deservedly, you are in it! What a
wonderful story - a fabulous cover - I didn't imagine
the dimensions of the painting were that!
I adore the Red Weather painting too - those were my 2
favorite covers of all time, and I'm glad you reasoned
w/the holder of the painting & came to obtain it!
Eric, let me know more, and I send every blessing.
Everything will be hopefully better, and I'm here!
Blessings to you,
Terry
Dear Eric,
Thanks, it was just great to hear from you.
I can well imagine you have much to be concerned about
right now - is there anything I can do to help? I
didn't know you lived so close to the site. Didn't put
that together. Sounds difficult to raise money when
you have to cancel the fairs as well.
Actually, I guess I never asked - what do you sell at
the fairs? Can you sell things online to make it up?
Where/when will you receive the knees? It's
unbelievable what they can do nowadays - will things
improve for you then?
Hilariously, I also said the overabundance of "oh, so
what" bands and people would be way over the top at
this event - I cared abt. several but in NO WAY the
whole shebang. I was told abt. the gig, so contacted
Leigh & he replied w/his schedule & a "hope to see
you" note, so figured I'd go since I missed them
playing last time... (fourth abortive attempt at
seeing him live since their inception when I was a
mere 13, lol).
Then figured I'd get there late so as not to roast
alive, but when I called Dickie Sat. nite he said "NO
WAY - be at the back gate at 11:00 SHARP" in a tone
that defied gravity! Therefore we drove up & stayed at
the Stanyan Park Hotel (LAST room available ANYWHERE)
figured I didn't want to be late making Dick stand
there w/a zillion people; I'd also hate to see him mad
either...!
Called him at 11:00 Sun am. & said we could hardly get
into this "forest", and he yelled incoherently to my
son Robin (by cell phone) "Get down here NOW - it's a
COMPLETE & TOTAL MADHOUSE!"
We were dropped off near the park; & after sliding
down a couple hills (ha) and were by some miracle
treated to the sight of Peterson being wildly driven
around on one of those popemobiles for rock concerts
(minus the top of course) with hair
flying...apparanatly looking for us up & down the
pathways - Robin astonished ran up to him on a distant
path - DP put 2 passes in his hand, & the Kawasaki
"Mule" (my cousin says this is what it's called?!?)
sped off into the teeming multitudes w/Peterson in tow
to return him the seeming miles to the rear of the
event.
But first, Dickiee gasped off intp the distance to
Robin - "Gotta Go - I'm SICK!"
Robin worried & fretted thru the next several hours,
tho' I said that certainly Dickie was basically ok -
after all he was when he'd called Sat. night at my
work apologizing profusely for "taking several hours
longer to get back to me" than he'd promised - he was
apparantly at what I called "ground zero" checking out
the site & getting all in perfect readiness for his
appearance the next day.
Well, no sign of Dickie at the gig for quite a few
hours; my 15 yr. old son was extremely upset backstage
- thinking Dickie was on his deathbed somewhere
around...(sev'l. thousand back there too.) in this
pretty trippy place~*
We saw Country Joe thru the bars of the side rail from
the teensy area we could see thru - if you tried to go
through from backstage to the front you were
unceremoniously kicked to the curb & told to go all
the way around (with feet falling off already) -
seemed WAY too difficult. So contented myself with
hearing what was really not that much to worry abt.
missing - Charlatans, etc... but the Fish Cheer was
beautifully done - Joe was very very happy w/the
response to the material.
Each "act" all had 20 min. each to play - ridiculous
really - Moby Grape finally all show up alive (with
Omar Spence sitting in for dear old Dad) and they play
sev'l. songs only - they were trying to really make it
count as they received plenty of att'n. for their
efforts. They gave it a real college try - "Hey
Grandma" was enthusiastically received - people knew
the words around the stage, etc., just cound't really
see from backstage that well. It was too blazing hot
to get worked up about it.
I sat in the shade of an accomodating mammoth truck a
while & had a glass of their homemade wine so I could
scarf down some croutons to avoid a 5 mile food line.
Then I kept busy waiting to see if I could find Leigh
- & couldn't - but then he was onstage suddenly
w/Melissa Olsen from Chronic W/K & others - they did a
totally superior job of their "Only Make Believe" -
Leigh was visible thru the itty bitty portion of the
side-stage area - all I can say was he looked so
estatic - he played unbelievably well - he really had
the petal to the metal (that is funnier than I
think!!) and I was delighted to see him bubbling over
with enthusiasm. Someone who SOUNDED like Peterson
sang "The Hunter" & Leigh really churned out the
psychedelia. He really delivered - it couldn't have
been more exciting. Tho' I couldn't see the rest of
the musicians from my vantage point backstage Mr.
Stephens looked & sounded amazing & looked completely
joyous onstage. The whole thing was very healthy for
him, in my opinion. I can only ascertain that maybe it
made him happier to play with the musicians he was
with for the moment - I wisely would never ask them
any such questions...
Insead, when he got offstage I tripped him (not
really!) in order to
to wax enthusiastic abt. his performance. He was very
very very happy to hear it - unlike last time when he
seemed to want to split faster than a charging rhino
from the event (at least he didn't seem to be there
long for whatever reason from what I saw & talked for
abaout 3/4 of a second) - this time he seemed patient
& stayed for several hours & appeared to have fun with
the whole event. I know he can be reclusive so I was
thunderstruck at this. People, photogs. etc. were sort
of standing there & staring at him like mules when he
came offstage - they didn't really know what to think,
in my opinion, as to who comprised BC, etc., so I
figured I'd get him to talk if they were going to
waste the opportunity!
Leigh was very friendly - I told him I adored the demo
Eva Caperon sent me a couple years ago - he was really
pleased that someone knew what he was actually doing
now instead of more prehistoric questions- I avoided
any mention of BC and told him Ride the Thunder & the
Caperon demo were completely terrific, he was laughing
a lot, seemed to be having a blast. None of which I'd
exactly expected. He had a charming personality too -
some of which mood I imagine was helped my NOT asking
"uh - are you playing with DICKIE?" I spared him that
& kept the conversation to what was he doing
currently, ie.,was he doing more shows, etc. He
laughed saying "No!" I said - "OH YES you are - you
need to keep working at this - it's too good to waste
the opporunity w/ the Rolling Stone acolades, etc.
etc. He told me at that point triumphantly of his
upcoming release w/Melissa Olsen singing, and looked
quite pleased w/his plans.
He was easygoing, laughing and seemed extremely
relaxed. I think the whole event did him a world of
good from what I could tell.
After this, back at the stage tents w/Robin & I
encountered Mr. Peterson who emerged finally from
nowhere, looking pale as a ghost, telling us he felt
horrid that he hadn't spent any time w/us but that
he'd been remanded to the medical tent as he'd been
throwing up all day, as a matter of fact.
I told him "WHAT are you going to do? How are you
going to work this?" He replied (with the Peterson
look of total determination) "I HAVE to make it work.
I HAVE to."
He was fighting to keep from getting sick, and was
further perturbed that the others he'd planned on
playing with weren't around, and he had suddenly no
way to get his time scheduled...prob. due to his
untimely absence - or lack of efficiency on the part
of the staff; he was ticked but kept himself well
under control.
PART II coming - I don't want this to cut off!!!
Eric, Sorry this is long...
So - Vicariously speaking: Can you imagine the scene -
Here we had Peterson gingerly walking around trying
not to lose his lunch again, while fighting to get in
his time onstage simultaneously.
Ultimately, he got to play nearly last - which was
good; after the whole (what must have been miserably
uncomfortable for him) day - standing there feeling
sick & cold, he climbed up onstage & awaited his big
moment as the prior band finished.
Heaven knows who he played w/ I can't recall - it
didn't matter - Dickie sounded Aabsolutely incredible
- he belted out "Hootchie Kootchie Man" (never a song
I liked but suddenly I did with the way he howled it
out sounding exactly like he did at 18 years
old...maybe more so)
I was astonished at how he took charge of matters &
made the whole performance so imposing. He looked &
sounded fantastic - I could not again see the rest of
the band but had a view of Peterson at times - he
emitted a thrashing gutteral growl of a vocal that was
positively chilling - I thought he stole the show in
my opinion.
I really admired Dickie's grittiness and
determination. His one song was far more interesting
that the psychoderelict meanderings of the other
"goings on" ~~so "crewel", but so true! Grape, Cheeer
people, Taj Mahal, Starship (apparantly Balin showed
up) and a few others could have done decent sets at,
say Maritime for a few decent hours & it would have
been GREAT. But I suppose they were looking for the
"ambiance" & celebratory feel.
I am so sorry Leigh & Dickie ticked ya off - I totally
understand your point about their opportunity to play
together at such an event. They were definitely
speaking to each other - I heard DP ask Leigh if he
was "staying around" but have no idea what they were
talking about. They spoke to each other at any rate ~
tht was the main thing.
So I don't know = it will be interesting to see what
the powers that be thought of it - having seen
LeighLess Cheer at the Bodega, Catalyst, Oakland last
year, the Attic, maybe a couple other times I felt
Dickie was Spot ON - you never would have known
anything ailed the man ~ he wanted to get back to the
airport area hotel at once & crash as he'd definitely
extended himself! Well, instead of feeling sorry for
himself he certainly proved who was legendary &
deserved the honors for his position in the festival
as I saw it.
I have to fix my printer so I can print the many items
Dickie reminisced abt. prior to last year ~I'd really
love to put it in one place & see what there is.
Also would like to get Leigh's perspectives abt.
whatever he enjoys talking about if not the past
stuff.
Mostly, I am concerned now for your upcoming event -
I'll let you rest now, and thanks for reading all the
fine print.
And, I am boonswoggled at seeing the artwork - It is
in the best hands it could be in. I used to love to
appal my mother by taping that cover to my wall. It
was so over the top for its time, and it's amazingly
well executed. And, deservedly, you are in it! What a
wonderful story - a fabulous cover - I didn't imagine
the dimensions of the painting were that!
I adore the Red Weather painting too - those were my 2
favorite covers of all time, and I'm glad you reasoned
w/the holder of the painting & came to obtain it!
Eric, let me know more, and I send every blessing.
Everything will be hopefully better, and I'm here!
Blessings to you,
Terry
Thank you for having a sense of humour.